Why we (still) need to talk about women in music….
Exploring the ongoing gender imbalance, from bedroom producer to board member
Equal pay, diversity, representation, gender balance — all phrases which, quite rightly, have become more and more ubiquitous in discussions around the 21st century workplace and how best to build teams to run businesses successfully. So, in 2020 do we really still need to be talking about equality in the music industry…..aren’t we there yet?
Well, looking at the statistics, at the reports being surfaced on a regular basis about the ongoing challenges facing women in all walks of the business, the lack of transparency on the gender pay gap across great swathes of the sector and, let’s not forget, the testimonies of women themselves working in this business day-in day-out….I’m afraid the resounding answer is ‘We’ve still got work to do’.
I’ve been lucky enough to have a career in music for 30 years now, in varying roles at companies big and small, rising from entry level roles through to senior management positions. And I am happy to say that, on the one hand, I have seen many changes over those years, more of a shift towards balance of representation in teams, more women entering roles in areas traditionally thought of as male (technical, engineering operations and analytics roles, amongst others), less of the acceptance of casual sexism and what used to be brushed off as ‘office banter’, intimidating as it often can be and reliant on women developing a thick skin and carry on about their business in order to get ahead and develop their careers.
On the other hand, speaking to women of all ages and experiences in this business, there are still all too many stories where simply being female has been a barrier to getting on with the job, getting a promotion, getting backing for their new artist signing or marketing concept or product idea, being taken seriously as a leader or key contributor.
- Tales from many female artist managers or tour promoters being stopped by security from going on stage to deal with their own artists, being mistaken for fans or groupies despite having all the relevant passes, lanyards and credentials to prove they’re there for work.
- Tales of female DJs being the only woman on an event line-up, the lone figure in the backstage area which can be an uncomfortable or at worst threatening environment.
- Stories of award-winning business owners being mistaken for a secretary.
- Of female team leaders seeing clients address the men in the room (even when the men are in the more junior roles).
- Of client managers having to turn a blind eye & ear to sexist comments on their appearance from clients, in order to avoid damaging the relationship or losing the business.
- Distressing accounts from young female singers and songwriters whose vocals and top-line writing have often been used on successful records but are refused the credits that would help them gain more work, fobbed off instead with just a paltry one-off fee rather than the ongoing royalty payments that ought to be their due.
- Stories of women being told that they just don’t have the resilience to deal with pressure, or conflict.
-Or — everyone’s favourite — being patronised or accused of being aggressive or hysterical for simply voicing their opinion (yep, the ‘calm down, dear’ attitude isn’t just the preserve of old-boy institutions and government chambers, it’s alive and kicking right here in the 21st century record business.)
All the above are real-world anecdotes that I have heard recently from some of the many incredible women I know, or anecdotes reflecting experiences of my own. And I can attest that you don’t have to be a young woman for a senior man in an organisation to make assumptions about your position or experience. Only a few years ago, at the ripe old age of 48 as I joined a well-known international music company, I was being introduced to colleagues around the business when one senior man asked if I was the new receptionist…… to which I replied “No, actually I’ve joined to take over as Senior Vice President for Operations”. Too snitty? I don’t think so. I’m now too long in the tooth to let these things go, as I feel it’s my duty (and duty of every woman who manages to carve her path and achieve longevity in the industry) to set the record straight for all those talented hard-working brilliant minds who follow in our wake and deserve to put up with less of the B-S than we have had to. We owe it to future generations to raise them up and pull them forward, not leave them to suffer in silence, to sit tight so as not to make a fuss. As Susan B Anthony put it:
“There shall never be another season of silence until women have the same rights men have on this green earth.”
Thankfully it’s not all doom and gloom as there are numerous of organisations, individuals and media initiatives that are really highlighting the ongoing challenges and advocating for change. After all, the focus has to be on finding solutions and putting change in place that can really move the needle on equality in the business, and not simply pointing out what is still lacking without providing any positive action that can redress the imbalance and see talented women of all ages and experience to be able to thrive and develop within an industry whose output is enjoyed by people of all ages and genders. There are many doing fantastic work out there, too many to be able to mention them all, but I’d like to shine a light on a few of these initiatives here and celebrate the fabulous women who are helping to spearhead this change.
Women in CTRL is one such organisation founded by force of nature Nadia Khan, to help develop a strong inclusive community for female/female-identifying in the business, aiming not only to provide support and development but also to provide a strong voice in the media and on social platforms to campaign against the inequalities and provide solutions. Recently they published a fascinating report called Seat at The Table, looking at the gender balance of women at the boards and on the staff of the music industry’s key trade bodies:
“Women are still under represented in leadership positions in the music industry and the recent horrific events leading onto the #showmustbepaused have shone light on some of the vast disparities in the music industry.
The UK music industry has several music industry trade bodies, representing writers, publishers, labels, independents, musicians, live venues and the wider commercial music industry
Trade bodies are set up to actively educate, lobby and action change, and many organisations have released statements calling for diversity and change within the wider industry
Companies need to look internally as well as externally. Diversity and gender balance need to be at every level in an organisation from teams through to senior management, CEO and board levels roles. Women in CTRL report analysed the gender split represented on the non-executive board, on the team and the CEO and Chairperson at each of the 12 UK music industry trade bodies in their study ‘Seat at the Table’ recently published”
The headline findings of this report highlight the work still to be done:
27% CEOs across 11 music trade bodies are women
9% of chairpersons across 11 trade bodies are women — there is just 1 female chair across the 11 in that report
34% of board members across 12 trade bodies are women **
6% the lowest representation of women is on the PPL board
Analysis of the make-up of the teams at these trade bodies only made for slightly more encouraging reading, with female to male staff ratio being 36% to 64%
*As I write this piece, I’m delighted to confirm that in this week’s AGM, AIM announced the results of the vote for 5 new board members, all of whom are women, bringing their gender balance in the board to 50/50. A great result deserving applause.
Huge plaudits are due to the music industry legend Alison Wenham OBE, who founded the Association for Independent Music back in 1999, being its chair and CEO for 17 years, and subsequently founding the Worldwide Independent Network, blazing a trail for women in music and providing inspiration for those who wished to progress to senior and leadership positions within it. Applause also due for creation of the Women IN Music awards by Music Week, in associations with UK Music and AIM, which were launched in 2014 to shine a light on the many influential and inspirational women from all disciplines and backgrounds, from activism and advocacy through to business and commercial leadership, enrolling 12 women in each into their Roll of Honour alongside honouring another 12 women with individual awards at their annual ceremony. Some people ask why it’s still needed and why there isn’t an equivalent to this for men… to which many have pointed out that the industry has always celebrated men’s achievements as the ‘norm’ and so often women get overlooked. So…. keep those awards coming!
A number of organisations within particular sectors have grown up to really champion more women entering the worlds of studio production, song-writing and DJing through mentorships, education modules, academy modules and initiatives to build expertise, confidence and networks. Amongst these special mentions to EQ50, Hospital Records Women in Drum ‘n ‘Bass, Full Spectrum in Bristol, Future Female Sounds, record labels like Club Queen Records, remarQabl and others whose focus is to ensure that seeing a woman in a DJ line-up or on the rosters of our many wonderful UK independent and grass roots record labels move away from tokenism to becoming the norm.
Harriet Jordan-Wrench, founder of Secret Sessions also set up the Girls to the Front platform to connect and educate artists that identify as WOMXN, pointing out that only last year still two thirds of the artists in the UK charts were male and that awards ceremonies and festival line-ups were still hugely neglecting female artists or female fronted bands, despite the fact that many of the world’s biggest recording artists right now (Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Cardi B, Adele, Beyonce… the list goes on…) are women dominating the airwaves, selling serious numbers of records and concert tickets and streaming in the multi-millions.
Lucy McCourt’s tweet on the subject went viral earlier this year, being picked up by the mainstream media as well as socials and online blogs, with this stark image of this year’s Reading and Leeds festival headliner poster with the men taken out. Makes for grim reading doesn’t it?
2020 wasn’t the only exception to this lack of female talent on key festival stages but certainly shows there’s still much more to be done to positively work against the unconscious bias that seems alive and kicking in the booking agent and promoter world and needs to change. Huge mention here has to go of course to Emily and Michael Eavis and the work they are doing to redress the balance across the stages of the legendary Glastonbury Festival. When the Foo Fighters had to pull out in 2015 due to Dave Grohl’s broken leg, and the replacement headline act was a young female artist Florence and the Machine, eyebrows were initially raised….until of course the performance was enjoyed by the tens of thousands at the event and several hundred thousand on the BBC TV, radio and online coverage and hailed as a huge success. What was seen as a bold move paid off — and now it seems almost unfeasible that the world’s best -loved and biggest music festival would neglect to showcase wonderful women across its many stages as headline acts.
The talented Vick Bain, former CEO of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and now leading industry consultant and presenter on gender equality, researched and set up The F-List to counter any arguments that there simply weren’t enough female performers or bands featuring females from which tour and festival promoters could select their line-ups. There are literally thousands listed….. so, no more excuses, fellas, eh…..?
Another of Bain’s major piece of research, Counting the Music Industry, uncovers how the UK music industry professionally supports female musicians compared to male musicians and shows there is a deficit of women; the gender gap in music. This was determined by focussing on the gender balance of those who are signed to labels and publishers.
Key findings: The Gender Gap
Of those writers currently signed to 106 UK music publishers:14.18% are female
Of those artists currently signed to 219 UK music labels:19.69% are female
Of those working for 126 UK music publishers: 36.67% are female
82% of CEOs of UK music publishing companies are male.
There are some differences in Music Publishers according to genres of music:
Screen (tv/film) music female leaders 30%
Classical music female leaders 25%
Popular music female leaders 10%
The above statistics are even starker when looking at the gender balance of those studying music at graduate and post-graduate level:
Of the 25,690 students studying music related subjects at all degree related subjects 44.33% were female in 2018
Of the 5,295 students studying music at post graduate levels in 2018: 49.40% were female
With these numbers being far more evenly split female to male, why then do the percentages of those making a living from writing and/or recording music tail off so significantly? It cannot be for lack of will or talent, but more likely our old friends ‘discrimination’ and ‘unconscious bias’ are at work here. But the positive takeaway here is that both of those ‘old friends’ can — and are — being tackled by those great women and organisations we’ve touched upon here, amongst many others now flying the flag for women to succeed in our industry.
So, to round up….. has progress been made for women’s position in music? Yes. Is there still more to do? HELL YES. Do we have the information, talent and infrastructure to continue to press for change? Pretty much.
What we need going forward is the renewed energy, education, collective commitment and belief — from the boardroom to the bedroom studio — to make the future brighter, more balanced and more female.
Let’s get to work!
“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” ― Maya Angelou
Silvia Montello is Head of Business Development at Blokur and Co-founder/Director of #remarQabl
